


Ghost stories

by lemonypond



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Between Seasons/Series, Gen, Humor, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-28
Updated: 2015-04-28
Packaged: 2018-03-26 03:31:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3835381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemonypond/pseuds/lemonypond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Skye has been sneaking away to the Bus. Fitz wonders what she's up to. Takes place between the events of season one and season two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost stories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bluegothic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegothic/gifts).



> Happy birthday, EmptyVessels! I hope you've had a wonderful day. I'm so glad you're alive.

It had been months since the events that left Coulson director of an agency that didn’t really exist. They were underground, literally and figuratively these days, having set up camp in an old SSR base.  Coulson himself was often gone for long stretches of time. Simmons had taken a leave of absence to visit her parents; at least that was the story she had told Skye, Fitz, and Trip. New team members had joined them, time was marching forward. This was frustrating to Skye and almost unbearable to a still rehabilitating Fitz. 

While the majority of her time was spent training physically and mentally with May and Trip, Skye never really felt at home in their new headquarters, often seeking the stillness of the Bus, still grounded and far from being in flying condition. The wiring was still frayed, and the shattered glass still hung in fragments; the SHIELD logo in the lounge was a cracked mosaic reminder of the Hydra coup.  She would sneak in at night, guided only by the light from her cell phone, bringing a tablet and snacks, plugging in her headphones, trying to ignore the echoes of the past in her head. 

One night, headphones channeling the sounds of St. Vincent’s last record, Skye set out from her bunk to spend a few hours alone. Fitz, alone in the lab late at night, struggling with the cloaking device and the fact that his body wouldn’t operate the way it once did, saw her pass by the door.  Figuring she was up to something and beyond fed up with himself, he followed her quietly, allowing a significant buffer between them. He heard the door to the hangar open with a groan, and a few moments later caught up to it, and peering out in the darkness he glimpsed her walking up the ramp to the Bus. 

“Why do you think she’s gone to the Bus?” a Simmons that wasn’t really there suddenly asked, dressed in a tidy blue sweater and her hair pulled sleekly back. 

“Dunno. Why do you think she’s gone?” Fitz asked, smiling slightly at the image beside him. 

“Maybe she just wants to get away from everyone, find some peace and quiet. There are a lot more people here than we were used to before…everything changed.” 

Fitz nodded. “Maybe. Maybe. Do you think…think…she’s okay?” 

The Simmons that wasn’t really there pondered this for a moment, narrowing her eyes as she looked off towards the plane. “It’s always hard to tell with Skye, even more so now that she’s been training so hard with Agent May. Do you want to take a closer look?” 

Fitz nodded, and if anyone else saw him, they would just see a man shaking his head and chatting with himself. Of course it was late in a deserted corridor, so that didn’t happen. He made his way down into the hangar, which in addition to the Bus, housed a variety of armored and non-armored vehicles, including Lola, Coulson’s prized classic car; which was also currently in a great state of disrepair since it’s last encounter with Ward and Garret. As he approached the plane he felt his chest tighten and his pulse race; he hadn’t really been on the aircraft since he was so unceremoniously thrown out of it by a man he once considered a friend. His hands shook and sweat formed along his hairline as he stopped to try and slow down his breathing once more. He’d have to be on the plane again at some point, he thought to himself. He looked over again at his absent best friend, who nodded with encouragement. 

“Might as well start now, eh?,” he whispered more to himself than to her as his foot hit the ramp, a heavy dampened sound echoed louder than he anticipated. 

The glass entrance to his once pristine lab was shattered, but the auxiliary lights still functioned so he followed them up the stairs to the lounge area. Shadows flickered off the shattered glass surrounding the lounge and his eyes followed them to Skye, her back turned to him. He could see over her shoulder that she was watching a movie on her tablet with her headphones.  He looked over at Jemma, but she looked ahead at the lounge and shook her head. 

“She looks like she’s just watching a movie, Fitz, I don’t think we should bother her.” 

“You don’t…don’t..don…,” he stumbled over his words. “C’mon Jemma.” She wrinkled her nose at him and shook her head. He slumped in resignation. “Fine. You can go back to the lab. I’m going, g…g…to say hi.” 

Simmons smiled imperceptibly at this. “I think that is a fine idea, I’ve got some things I want to look over anyway. You’ll be fine on your own?” 

Fitz looked over to Skye, still unaware of his presence, then back to Jemma and nodded.  “It’s just Skye. She’s our friend.” He managed a weak smile, and when the Simmons that wasn’t really there smiled back, it grew wider. 

“Yes, she is; you’d do good to remember that next time she tries to help you out in the lab,” she replied. He looked down at the carpet and nodded again. He hated it when she was right. 

“See you…you later. Think I’ll just give her a quick scare; ha-have some fun.” He turned his face up to look at her once again, knowing exactly what was waiting for him. 

“Oh, Fitz…” Simmons rolled her eyes and strolled back towards the rest of the base. 

His left hand was shaking so he stuffed it in the pocket of his jeans.  He ducked down and crawled over to the couch where Skye had sprawled out with snacks, her hair in a loose bun flyaway filled bun.  He caught a better glimpse of what she was watching. It was a scary movie. This was even better, he thought to himself. He steadied himself with his good right hand as he slowly pulled himself up over the couch the grab her arm at a well-timed scary moment. 

“AAAAAH!” She screamed while pulling her unknown assailant over the couch onto his back, sending chips and headphones flying into the air. Fitz landed with a crunch of orange dust. 

“Ow!” He said gruffly. 

“FITZ?!?!” she shouted. “What the hell are you doing? I’m so sorry, I didn’t know it was y-“ 

“It’s my fault. I should have known better than to…to…to… surprise a trained SHIELD agent…” he smirked as he pulled himself up to seated, dusting the chips off his shirt. 

She cringed as she helplessly offered him a hand, which he refused. “Fitz, I’m so sorry. I didn’t- wait a second. Did you follow me?” 

“I saw you sneak out. I was in the lab working on the…the…cloaking…,” he paused to try and find his words. Skye patiently waited. “Wanted to see what you were up….to. I don’t, don’t….see you much anymore.”

Skye couldn’t say anything in response. She had been so busy, training under May, running on missions with Trip and the new guys that she hadn’t had the time to be the friend that Fitz needed. She also didn’t know how to be the friend that he needed since the ‘incident’, as she had begun to refer to it. It was easier than saying ‘that time my almost boyfriend betrayed us and threw my two closest friends into the ocean and one of them got brain damage,’ so ‘incident’ worked better. She just sat there, looking at her friend, wanting to say something, but like him, not finding the right words. 

“I…just like it better on the Bus; there are so many people we don’t know here. I just need to get away sometimes and be alone. This plane was the first place that ever really felt like a home to me.” She looked from the bullet holes in the wall paneling back to Fitz. “You know?” 

Fitz nodded. He’d grown up with his mum, but he understood what she meant.  “How often do…do...” 

She shrugged. “I dunno. Depends on how crazy it’s getting. I mean I love training with May but she can be a little…” she made claw motions and bulged her eyes. Fitz nodded enthusiastically in agreement and chuckled to himself. 

“I didn’t hurt your arm, did I?” she asked. 

“Hmm? Oh, no, no, no. It’s fine.” He wriggled his fingers and waved his arm in front of her. “Cast has been off for a month now, I’m get…get…my muscles…work…strength back.”  He scrunched up his face in frustration as he balled his hand into a white-knuckled fist. 

Skye wanted to hug him and tell him it was okay but she honestly didn’t know if he allowed anyone other than Simmons to hug him, especially since the incident. She only remembered hugging him once when she got her badge-the day that everything changed. She opted to grab his arm instead. 

“Hey. Hey. It’s okay. You’re getting better. It’s just going to take time.” 

He didn’t say anything but just nodded. A few moments later, Skye pulled the headphones out of the tablet and let the tiny speakers do the work instead. She restarted the movie; she had seen it before. They watched the movie together in silence for a while. 

“That guy. The blond one. Doesn’t he look-“ Fitz began. 

“-like _Thor_? Yeah. Totally. It’s freaky, isn’t it?” she laughed. He did too. 

They finished the movie and agreed to meet back same time next week as long as Skye wasn’t on a mission. And for the next few weeks, time allowing, they watched movies. They didn’t always say much, but Skye was glad that Fitz wasn’t locking himself up in his room, even if for only two hours a week. She missed her friend. 

 

* * *

 

 

A few weeks later they met just before midnight, drinks and snacks pilfered from the kitchen. They settled in when Hunter showed up with two six-packs of beer and Trip in tow. 

“What are you doing here?” Skye asked, arms crossed. She suddenly felt very protective of Fitz and their time together. She didn’t want him to shut down. 

“Oh? Was this a secret meeting? You took all the good food from the kitchen, mate.” Hunter grabbed a bag of pretzels from the bar table. “Trip and I were finishing up a workout, we saw someone walk by; we followed your bread crumbs, Hansel and Gretel.” 

Trip sidled over and revealed a carton of ice cream. “Also, you guys aren’t as stealthy as you think.” He grabbed a spoon from his back pocket. “Spotted you on the camera two weeks ago.” He glanced over at Fitz, who sheepishly grinned. “I made those brownies, man. I only got to eat one.” 

“They were…delicious,” Fitz said, his mouth full of pretzels. 

“I know.” Trip raised an eyebrow before taking a bite of ice cream. 

“Did you bring any more bowls?” Fitz asked. 

Trip smiled and held out his other hand. 

“Guess my secret hideout isn’t so secret after all.” Skye sighed in resignation. 

“So what were you guys up to? Planning to overthrow SHIELD?” Trip joked. 

“No. Jerk.”  She punched him in the arm. “Just blowing off some steam away from everyone else,” she answered. 

“You don’t like our company? I’m genuinely hurt,” Hunter clutched his hand to his chest. “No, I get it.” 

“We went through…through…grrrr…a lot happened to us here,” Fitz struggled, but made it through. Trip and Skye shared a look. 

“So I hear,” Hunter said. “Hydra took over. Yeah. I got the text message _. From IZZY_. Three forty seven in the bloody morning. ‘She didn’t die.’ He mimed air quotes as the indignation took over his voice. “She takes out a battleship full of Hydra but she can’t be bothered to text me herself.” 

The others shared a confused look as everyone settled in on the couches. Fitz seemed to collapse in on himself as the others showed up, but he had ice cream so he focused on that. He really didn’t feel like being around a lot of people and Trip quickly picked up on it. 

“It’s good to see you, man,” he said, extending his arm out for a high five. Fitz gave him an awkward half smile and a fist bump; Trip chuckled as he palmed Fitz’ fist. Out of the corner of Fitz could see a Simmons that wasn’t really there nodding at him in encouragement, before leaving. Trip and Skye exchanged a relieved look, both thrilled that Fitz wasn’t running away. 

“So what have you two been sneaking off to do every week?” Trip asked. 

“Movies and stuff…mindless escape,” Fitz answered. 

“This is like having a campfire except there’s no fire, we’re indoors, and there are no mosquitoes,” Hunter said, handing out beers. 

“So nothing like a campfire,” Skye said sardonically. 

“No, it is. Four friends hanging out, drinking beer, telling stories, hanging out without worrying about evil Nazi nut jobs destroying the world,” Hunter took a swig of his beer. “That is the essence of a camp fire,” he added with a grand gesture of his arms. 

“Fair point. Guess I didn’t have too many of those experiences at St. Agnes.” Skye said. 

“Ahh. Foster kid. Nuns and whatnot?” Hunter asked. 

She nodded as she took a sip. “Mmm-hmm, and the whatnot did not include a lot of campfires, though I knew a few kids that had tendencies to start fires.” 

“Awesome,” Hunter said sarcastically. 

“Totally!” 

“D’you guys…guys..want a campfire?” Fitz asked. 

“Did you bring a lighter, Fitz?” Trip asked. 

“No…but there’s a setting on, on, on… the Bus’s video display,” Fitz said, getting up to grab the keyboard. In the last few weeks he and Mack had worked on restoring power to the plane one section at a time. “Simmons and I found it when we mem…memor…joined the team.” 

FitzSimmons had found a lot of random things programed into the plane’s computers. In addition to the fireplace video setting, they had found several early eighties video games, including Galaga and Space Invaders, which they found a little ironic after the Battle of New York. Skye too had discovered it and the high score screens were a battle between Fitz and Skye, except the top scores always mysteriously belonged to “CAPT”. They never discussed it. 

“Just a few….ahh.” Fitz said, and a loop of a fireplace played on the display, much like the cheesy nineties dvds that big box stores would use to show how great their technology was. 

“Go Fitz!” Trip said. “Now all we need are some marshmallows.” 

“We don’t have any marshmallows,” Fitz responded. 

Trip smiled. “I...I know Fitz. You did good, man.” 

“This baby must have some ghost stories to tell,” Hunter mock-warmed his hands in front of the fire display. “Ones from before it all went to hell in a Hydra colored handbasket, I mean,” he added seeing the looks on the faces of the others. 

“Yeah it does actually,” Skye answered, reaching for some pretzels. 

“He wasn’t an actual…gh-“ Fitz added. 

“Wait, you had an _actual_ ghost?” Hunter asked. “I just meant you guys probably had some wild stories.” 

Skye shook her head. “Not technically. He was trapped between dimensions.” 

“You screamed like a little girl,” Skye continued, unsuccessfully stifling her laughter. 

“I…I…shut up…” Fitz frowned. 

Trip and Hunter raised their eyebrows in confusion. “Wait, you’re serious?” Trip asked. 

“Well Fitz wasn’t screaming at Thomas. _Someone_ decided it was a good idea to haze the newbie.” Skye jokingly shot Fitz a look. 

“That…that….Simmons’ idea…not…not…,” Fitz shook his head in defiance. 

“Well whoever started it, you’re the one who rigged up the mop to jump out when we opened the door.” 

“I didn’t realize we’d have a dimen…”he paused. “-sion jumping lunatic chasing us on the...plane.” Fitz was getting red faced. 

“Yes that was unfortunate. Otherwise that was one of the most fun days we had together.” Skye smiled, trying to look Fitz in the eye. 

“Yeah?” He looked up from his bowl. 

“Are you kidding? Not only did we help Hannah and Thomas with your Golden Retrievers which were _so cool_ , but after we got the plane up and running again, we had an awesome night just playing scrabble and hanging out.” 

“Missed that part,” Fitz said. “Still don’t know who pranked me. _While I was sleeping.”_

“That’s cold, man,” Trip said. “Shame on you, Skye. The man was sleeping innocently.” He pursed his lips to keep from laughing. 

“No way dude, I keep telling you it wasn’t me,” Skye laughed. “And he’s not so innocent. What was it you and Simmons told me?” 

Fitz shrugged his shoulders. “I...I don’t recall. Brain injury, remember?” He tapped his head with his yet to be opened beer bottle. 

“Nice one, mate,” Hunter smiled. “She can’t come back from that one.” 

“You convinced me that that Agent May rode into Bahrain on a horse carrying two guns and took out everyone,” Skye said. 

“ ‘s not our fault you’re…so…guh…gullible.” Fitz retorted. The others burst into a fit of laughter, which Fitz joined. 

Skye threw popcorn at them. “Laugh it up fuzz balls!” 

“Didn’t you try to scare Simmons with a gas mask, too?” Skye asked. 

Fitz nodded. “Yup. She didn’t even flinch though. She’s never any fun.” 

“I dunno, she sounds pretty awesome,” Hunter said. “Starting the whole prank war and such.” 

Skye smiled at Hunter. He didn’t know it but the best way to get Fitz to open up was to talk about Simmons. “She is pretty great. Good cook too.” 

“Terrible sky-diver, though,” Fitz said, looking at Skye. She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. It was harder to tell since his injuries. 

“That was a rough day,” Skye said. Trip knew the story, but they enlightened Hunter on the day Simmons got infected and jumped out of the plane. Skye couldn’t tell if reliving the second worst day of his life was going to make him shut down or not. He let her tell most of the story. She doubted he realized he was puffing out his chest and smiling. 

“Sounds like you were a hell of a hero that day,” Hunter said. “Cheers,” he added, clinking bottles with Fitz. 

“Not just that day,” Trip chimed in. “He totally incapacitated Garret with an EMP. Dude’s a bad ass.” 

“Don’t forget that he saved Mike Peterson on the very first day we met,” Skye added. 

“That…that was all Simmons…” he stammered. 

“Those ICE-ers are equally your design, Fitz,” Skye corrected him. 

“Sounds like you two are a hell of a team,” Hunter said. 

“Don’t even try to beat them at charades, they will destroy you!” Skye laughed. “You will lose. Terribly.” 

“Were,” Fitz corrected him. “She’s…not here anymore.” The light mood they had suddenly turned a little cooler. Skye tried to steer back in to friendlier territory. 

“Hey. She’s just on sabbatical. She’ll be back soon. She promised,” Skye said, trying to mask her alarm with a bright smile, just the way that Simmons would have. And when she did come back, she’d get an earful, Skye thought to herself. 

“Can’t wait to meet her,” Hunter said. “But in the meantime, I’m _really_ glad you’re here, Fitz. You’re a badass in geek’s clothing.” Fitz shifted in his seat. “That came out wrong. I’m sorry. You’re simply a badass. It sounds to me like none of us would be here right now if it weren’t for you.” 

“That is true,” Trip said. 

“I...I don’t…think that…that’s true,” Fitz stammered. 

Skye quietly panicked while making eye contact with Trip. 

“Majority rules, Fitz, you’re a hero! No take backs!” she tried to lighted up the mood again. 

Trip got up to dig in some cabinets, and came back toting some boxes, brushing off the dust and debris before he sat them on the table. “Would you like to play a game?” he asked, flashing his thousand watt-smile. 

“Global thermonuclear war?” Hunter asked. Trip nodded, glad that someone got his reference. 

“Hey! Scrabble! It’s still here!” Skye said a little too excitedly. “We should play! It’ll be FUN!” 

“I’m a shit speller,” Hunter said, picking up on what they were trying to do. He leaned back. “What the hell, Trip can’t be much better.”  
  
“Hey now, with the trash talk, I won my seventh grade spelling bee,” Trip picked up another beer. 

Fitz smiled again, now that the discussion shifted away from him and SImmons. He could play scrabble a lot better than he could speak at the moment so he was really eager to place words on the table instead of saying them. 

“And I’m a high school dropout so unless it’s a computer code, I’m not very good with it,” Skye added. 

They started out wanting to let Fitz win, but as it turned out, he easily wiped the floor with them, leaving them to try and make up gibberish words. They each were more competitive than they anticipated, which just made them laugh at the escalating trash talk. 

“Language!” Trip gasped at the string of insults spewing from Skye’s mouth. “They teach you that at St. Agnes?” 

Skye laughed. “Yes actually!” 

“She’s got the filthiest mouth…of…of anyone,” Fitz added. 

“Fitz! I thought we were friends!” she mock-protested. 

“Well, you…kind of…errm…suck,” Fitz scrunched his face, then began to giggle. 

“The man has a point,” Trip said. “Your highest scoring word so far is ‘turd’.” 

“You are what you spell!” Hunter laughed, in turn making Fitz laugh even harder. 

“So with an unreasonable score of three hundred fifty two, is Fitz, and in a distant second place is Trip with one hundred three. And tying for last place are the high school dropout and the top footballer of the class of 2000,” Hunter said. “To Fitz, the smartest man I know!” He held up his bottle waiting for the other to toast with him. 

Fitz laughed. He won fair and square. He felt pretty good. 

“To Fitz!” the others said.

“Aw. Dammit. It’s three am and I’ve got to be up at six to train,” Skye winced, looking at her phone. 

“Totally worth it,” Trip said as he stood up and stretched. “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.” 

“Agreed,” Hunter added. “Should do it again. What do you say, Fitz? Next week?” 

He sat for a moment, scanning the lounge for any sign of Simmons’ ghost; she was asleep in a chair in the corner of the room. She yawned as she shifted in the chair, shaking her head yes. 

“Yeah. Sure. Though…though…maybe we play Candyland instead, more your speed,” Fitz grinned. 

“Oh. Oh Fitz, I wish you hadn’t said that. I’m reading the dictionary this week,” Hunter joked. “Your ass is grass. Great campfire, guys.”

 "Thanks for...yeah." Fitz smiled, clapping Hunter on the back.

Skye helped Trip clean up the mess they made while the other two headed back to the barracks. “That went well. Better than I expected,” she said. “I didn’t think he’d be up for it.” 

“He’s getting better. It was good to see a bit of his old self return,” Trip shook his head in agreement. “He’s still in there.” 

“Yeah…I just wish I could help more.” 

“You’ve got him out of the lab and out of his room. It may not seem like much, but I’m telling you, it’s huge.” 

“You could have texted me you were coming,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “I could have prepped a little more.” 

“And miss the look on your face? Never.” Trip smiled and she couldn’t ever stay mad at him and he knew it. “You stole my brownies! I made those from scratch; Grandma’s recipe.” 

“Technically that was a ghost,” Skye quipped. 

“MmmHmm.” 

“Okay. It might have been Fitz,” she looked away, smirking. 

“MmmHmm.” 

“It was a ghost, I’m telling you,” she quipped. 

“We’ve got a lot of those around here, it seems.” 

“It was good to get rid of a few of them tonight. For a while at least.” 

Trip grinned for a moment, then softened into a slight frown. “We won’t get rid of them all.” 

“No, but we can keep trying.” 

“We sure can.”


End file.
